Guide

Pole² — how to use it

Pole² keeps the things you care about — and what comes with them — close by. Everything stays on your device. Here’s what you can do today.

Adding a thing

Tap Kobe, the turtle at the bottom, and choose how to start:

• From a photo — take or pick a photo from your gallery, and the new thing starts with its image already in place.
• From a name — start with a title and add the rest, calmly.

All you need is a name: nothing is required, you can fill in the rest whenever you like.

Photos and gallery

Every thing can have several photos. The cover is the first image; the others stay in the gallery, reorderable, and you can view them full-screen.

Search and “Where it is”

From the main screen you can search by name or category, sort, and filter with “Where it is”: everything, no place, inside a Place, or on loan to a person.

Places

Places are real containers and can hold one another (Home › Bedroom › Wardrobe). Each thing can sit in a Place or stay without one. A Place’s filter includes everything in the places it contains too.

People: loans, returns and gifts

You can mark a thing as lent to a person, then record its return. You can also give a thing to someone for good and — if one day it comes back — record that it’s back among your things. In the People section you can see, for each person, what they have on loan, what you’ve given them and their history.

Tidy up this place

Inside a Place you can start “Tidy up this place”: a calm walk, one thing at a time, to put what’s there back in order.

Archive and removed things

Things that leave everyday use stay readable in the Archive: those put aside and those removed are kept separate. Nothing is deleted for good without a deliberate action from you.

Encrypted backup and restore

You can create an encrypted backup of your data and photos, choosing where to save it. A restore replaces the current data with the backup’s, keeping a safety copy throughout the operation. Only you know the backup password: without it, the backup can’t be read.

Everything on your device

Pole² works locally: no account, no cloud, no ads. Your data lives on your phone, and any sharing is up to you.

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Install and maintenance

Requirements

• Android 7.0 or later.
• A universal Android APK (a single file, for every compatible device).
• Pole² is distributed as a beta outside the Google Play Store: install it from the official GitHub Releases or via Pole²’s in-app update.

Install and update

• Download the file only from the official Pole² GitHub Release or from the official in-app update. Don’t download it from other sources.
• When you open the APK, Android may ask you to allow installation from the app that opened it (your browser or file manager).
• That permission concerns that source app, not Pole²: you can turn it off again after installing.
• An in-place update, signed with the same Pole² key, keeps your data and photos: there’s no need to reinstall from scratch.
• Don’t uninstall Pole² before updating: you’d lose your local data. The update installs over the existing version.

Backup

• The backup is manual and local: you create it, when you want.
• It contains Pole²’s database and the linked photos.
• Password protection is recommended.
• A forgotten backup password can’t be recovered: without it, that backup can’t be read. Keep it safe.
• Pole² has no cloud copies and no account: no one can reset it for you.
• You choose where to save the file.

Restore

• A restore replaces Pole²’s current contents with the backup’s: it doesn’t merge them.
• Pole² verifies and prepares the backup before touching your active data.
• It keeps an emergency safety copy and, if verification fails, rolls back automatically to the previous data.
• To finish, the app closes and needs to be reopened.
• Before restoring, it’s worth creating a new backup of your current data.

Safe updates

• Some versions may recommend a backup before downloading.
• You can still continue without a backup or postpone.
• Updates never install by themselves.
• Pole² blocks an update while a restore is in progress.
• Downloaded APKs are verified with SHA-256 before installing.

If something goes wrong

• You’re offline or no update is available: keep using the app and try again later. Nothing gets stuck.
• The install is blocked: check the “Install unknown apps” permission for the app that opened the APK.
• The restore fails: Pole² restores your previous local data by itself.
• Need help? Write to us from the Support page.

For your privacy, don’t send backups, databases, photos, passwords or sensitive contents of the things you keep in Pole². To help you, a description of the problem is enough.

Official sources

• Official GitHub Releases — this is where you download the APK.
• Privacy — what stays on the device and what the site collects.
• Support — write to us if something isn’t right.
• What’s new — what has changed.

Pole² isn’t on the Play Store: there’s no official Play Store link. The only download channel is the official GitHub Release.